Aust AT gun Singapore (012449).jpg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Aust is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England, about north of Bristol and about south west of Gloucester. It is located on the eastern side of the Severn estuary, close to the eastern end of the Severn Bridge which carries the M48 motorway. The village has a chapel, a church and a public house. There is a large area of farmland on the river bank, which is sometimes flooded due to the high tidal range of the Severn.
Aust Cliff Aust Cliff () is a 5.3 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest adjacent to the Severn Estuary, near the village of Aust, South Gloucestershire, notified in 1954. The Severn Bridge crosses the cliff. Its SSSI designation is due to ...
, above the Severn, is located about from the village. The civil parish of Aust includes the villages of Elberton and
Littleton-upon-Severn Littleton-upon-Severn is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Aust, in the South Gloucestershire district, in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, England, near the mouth of the River Severn and is located to the west of ...
.


History


Overview

Aust, on the River Severn, was at one end of an ancient Roman road that let to Cirencester. Its name, Aust, may be one of the very few English place-names to be derived from the Latin ''Augusta''. The name of Aust is recorded in 793 or 794 as ''Austan'' (''terram aet Austan v manentes'') when it was returned to the Church of Worcester after having been taken by
King Offa Offa (died 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æt ...
's earl, Bynna. In Domesday,
Aust Cliff Aust Cliff () is a 5.3 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest adjacent to the Severn Estuary, near the village of Aust, South Gloucestershire, notified in 1954. The Severn Bridge crosses the cliff. Its SSSI designation is due to ...
was recorded as ''Austreclive'', "clive" being a Middle English spelling of cliff. and the estate was held by
Turstin FitzRolf Turstin fitz Rolf, also known as Turstin le Blanc and Tustein fitz Rou (Old Norse: ''Þorsteinn Hrólfsson'') played a prominent role in the Norman conquest of England and is regarded as one of the few proven companions of William the Conqueror ...
in 1066. In 1368 the area was called ''Augst'', "the short unmistakable form of Augusta. Historically Aust was a village and manor in the parish of Henbury.


Aust church

It was reported as a part of the church of Worcester's Westbury on Trym estate in the Domesday book. About 1100 Winebaud de Ballon gave the church to the Abbey of St Vincent, Le Mans. In the 14th century, the chapel at Aust was part of the Church of Westbury. The Lollard theologian John Wycliffe (died 1384) is by tradition said to have been
prebend A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the ...
of Aust and to have preached there, yet Baker (1901) was unable to find any record of such an appointment in the diocesan registers at Worcester, which
see See or SEE may refer to: * Sight - seeing Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Television * ...
held Aust for many centuries. The existing church is dedicated to
St John Saint John or St. John usually refers to John the Baptist, but also, sometimes, to John the Apostle. Saint John or St. John may also refer to: People * John the Baptist (0s BC–30s AD), preacher, ascetic, and baptizer of Jesus Christ * John t ...
, and is mostly built in the
Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-c ...
style. The timber roofs and octagonal stone
font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...
date from the 15th century, and the western church tower, with an
embattled A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...
parapet, was probably rebuilt in the Tudor period. The church contains several 18th-century marble memorial tablets, the earliest dated 1704 to Sir Samuel Astry. The whole church was restored in 1866 by the firm of Pope & Bindon.


Aust manor

The estate at Aust was held from the Bishop of Worcester as part of the extensive feudal barony of
Turstin FitzRolf Turstin fitz Rolf, also known as Turstin le Blanc and Tustein fitz Rou (Old Norse: ''Þorsteinn Hrólfsson'') played a prominent role in the Norman conquest of England and is regarded as one of the few proven companions of William the Conqueror ...
who had acted as standard-bearer to William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. FitzRolf's properties in Gloucestershire were held
in capite In old English law, a capite (from Latin ''caput'', head) was a tenure, abolished by Act 12 Chas. II, xxiv. (Tenures Abolition Act 1660), by which either person or land was held immediately of the king, or of his crown, either by knight-service or ...
, including Aust, reverted to the Crown and then were granted to Wynebald de Ballon from Maine. Wynebald had a holding at Caerleon on the
River Usk The River Usk (; cy, Afon Wysg) rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain (''y Mynydd Du''), Wales, in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Initially forming the boundary between Carmarthenshire and Powys, it fl ...
near the manor of his brother Hamelin de Ballon of
Abergavenny Abergavenny (; cy, Y Fenni , archaically ''Abergafenni'' meaning "mouth of the River Gavenny") is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a ''Gateway to Wales''; it is approximately from the border wi ...
. Both brothers made significant donations to the Abbey of St Vincent at Le Mans, including Wynebald's donation of the church of Aust. A daughter of de Ballon married a man named de Newmarch, their son Henry held the estate of Aust in 1166. John, his son and heir, next held Aust. One of John's daughters and co-heiress married Ralf Russell of Kingston Russell, who then held the estate. It passed in
moiety Moiety may refer to: Chemistry * Moiety (chemistry), a part or functional group of a molecule ** Moiety conservation, conservation of a subgroup in a chemical species Anthropology * Moiety (kinship), either of two groups into which a society is ...
through generations of the Russell and then Dennis families, through Margret Russell who married Sir
Gilbert Denys Sir Gilbert Denys (c. 1350–1422) of Siston, Gloucestershire, was a soldier, and later an administrator. He was knighted by January 1385, and was twice knight of the shire for Gloucestershire constituency, in 1390 and 1395 and served as Sheriff ...
(died 1422) to her grandson Walt Dennis. The moiety was purchased by the Astry family, The other moiety of Aust was held by Roger de Acton and was eventually sold to the Astry family. Reportedly it came into the Astry family in 1652. It was passed through several generations and was sold several times. In 1801, it was owned by Sacheverell Sitwell of Derbyshire.


Services and facilities

The village is within a short walking distance of 24hr shops at near-by
Severn View services Severn View services, formerly Aust Services is a motorway service station on the M48 motorway near the village of Aust, northwest of Bristol. It is owned by Moto. History Old building The service was constructed by Higgs and Hill Ltd as part ...
at Aust (originally known as Aust Services) is a small motorway service area operated by Moto on the M48 motorway near the Severn Bridge. There are also
Burger King Burger King (BK) is an American-based multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based res ...
, and Costa Coffee located there. The main building is a two-storey timber and stone construction. The service area was listed as the last-known (February 1995) whereabouts of former Manic Street Preachers band member Richey Edwards, officially presumed deceased since 2008. The Severn Bridge, a
suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...
opened as part of the
M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...
(later renamed the M48) in 1966, crosses the Severn estuary between Aust and
Beachley Beachley is a village in Gloucestershire, England, near the border with Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located on a peninsula at the confluence of the rivers Wye and Severn, where the Severn Bridge ends and the smaller secondary bridge over the ...
. It was the first Severn road crossing south of Gloucester, and took five years to construct at a cost of £8 million. It replaced the Aust Ferry. The Aust Ferry passage across the Severn estuary between Aust and Beachley – later known as the Old Passage – was used from antiquity. In the 12th century, responsibility was granted to the monks of Tintern Abbey, and it continued to operate in subsequent centuries. From 1827, a regular
steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...
ferry service was established, but it lost much of its trade when a rival service was set up downstream at
New Passage New Passage is a hamlet in South Gloucestershire, England, on the banks of the Severn estuary near the village of Pilning. It takes its name from the ferry service which operated between there and South Wales until 1886. Ferry History New Pas ...
in 1863, and when the Severn rail tunnel was opened in 1886. The growth of road traffic led to the re-establishment of a ferry between Aust and Beachley in 1926, carrying no more than 17 vehicles each time. Bob Dylan was photographed in 1966 standing outside the ferry ticket office, with the almost-completed Severn Bridge behind; the photo was used to publicise Martin Scorsese's film '' No Direction Home''. The ferry service closed when the Severn Bridge was opened in September 1966.


See also

*
Aust Cliff SSSI Aust Cliff () is a 5.3 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest adjacent to the Severn Estuary, near the village of Aust, South Gloucestershire, notified in 1954. The Severn Bridge crosses the cliff. Its SSSI designation is due to ...


Notes


References


External links


Olveston and Aust website
* {{South Gloucestershire Populated places on the River Severn Villages in South Gloucestershire District Civil parishes in Gloucestershire